To comply with the Cabinet's plan to stabilize commodity prices, six local hypermarket and supermarket chains will establish "low-price supply areas" within their stores beginning on Monday in a bid to help consumers combat price hikes.
Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄), who also serves as chairman of the Consumer Protection Commission (消保會), announced on Thursday that the government had selected a total of 10 basic commodities including rice, flour, vegetable oil, eggs and others, which the stores have agreed to offer at low prices to consumers.
Norman Yin (殷乃平), professor of finance and banking at National Chengchi University, said the government’s policy of establishing low-cost supply areas will improve the public’s impression of its commodity policy, but will not solve the real problem in the long run, as it will add to the retailers’ burden.
“To solve the problem, the government will have to lower costs, or increase production and open up imports, instead of merely asking retailers to lower their prices,” Yin said.
The six participating chains are Carrefour Taiwan (家樂福), RT-Mart (大潤發), Far Eastern Geant Co (愛買), Wellcome Supermarkets (頂好超市), Sungching (松青超市) and Chuan Lian Centers (全聯福利中心).
In related news, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said on Thursday that the country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for May rose 3.71 percent compared with the same month last year, largely because of a significant hike in food prices.
Among food products, the price of meat increased the most at 18 percent, followed by those of grains at 13 percent and aquatic products at 12 percent. Fruit and vegetable prices, on the other hand, declined slightly by 0.92 percent and 0.72 percent, respectively.
Produce that has skyrocketed over the past year includes bananas, up 160 percent year-on-year, and papayas, which were 67 percent higher than last May.
Prices of the widely consumed fish, tilapia, were up 36 percent, while eggs rose 24 percent and adult milk powder increased by 24 percent.
Prices of Western style breakfasts increased 15 percent, those of Chinese noodles were up 14 percent, and rice and bread prices rose 11 percent.
There were some items, however, whose prices fell dramatically last month on a year-on-year basis. The price of garlic was down 28 percent, while the price of potatoes and watermelons fell 22 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
The costs of tomatoes, peaches, oranges and guavas all declined by between 18 percent and 20 percent.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS